Since cell phones don't work in the hospital (but wireless does), we just want to share that Sheila Mercedes Suarez came at 7:38pm today. She's 8lbs, 7oz and very healthy (and hungry). When I can, I'll upload pictures.
Tricia asked me to add head size (14.0) and length (20.3) too.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
before we get too busy...
We wanted to share something that has made us happy the last 2 days.... our fence. The neighbors (if they have caught us) are certainly calling us crazy as we frequently just go out and stare at our fence. I'm sad I didn't have any wide angles of the overgrown forest-yard that we used to have. But I'm happy that Mario had the vision to transform our yard into what it is today.
BEFORE:
This was one of the woodsy areas to the right of our house. And in the background you can see more woods/overgrowth that is at the back of the property.
Close up of side overgrowth.
AFTER:
Right front of the house showing the cleared overgrowth.
From the back of the property looking to the front. That big tree was surrounded by smaller overgrowth.
BEFORE:
Close up of overgrowth at back of property (it was basically about 15 feet that stretched the entire length across the back).
HALFWAY:
Our first step was to clear the growth, and then plant grass seed (which grew in quite nicely)
You can kind of see from the different shades of grass where the new greener grass was put in and grew.
AFTER:
As shot from the back corner of the property.
BEFORE:
This was one of the woodsy areas to the right of our house. And in the background you can see more woods/overgrowth that is at the back of the property.
Close up of side overgrowth.
AFTER:
Right front of the house showing the cleared overgrowth.
From the back of the property looking to the front. That big tree was surrounded by smaller overgrowth.
BEFORE:
Close up of overgrowth at back of property (it was basically about 15 feet that stretched the entire length across the back).
HALFWAY:
Our first step was to clear the growth, and then plant grass seed (which grew in quite nicely)
You can kind of see from the different shades of grass where the new greener grass was put in and grew.
AFTER:
As shot from the back corner of the property.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Still pregnant - 39 weeks
In case any of you were wondering. Mario has reminded me that I seem to have babies pretty much on time at 40 weeks, so I should be patient and enjoy these last few days. It has been good advice. Since I'm still pregnant, we've been able to get more work done around the house and have been able to finish up things. We've also had a chance to go on dates, which seems to be our favorite thing to do before babies arrive. The boys have joined us on a few of these outings. But we made it to see a movie - the one date that I find a bit more difficult with tiny babies - so, we're all set. We've also just had our house blessed (finally! yay!) MJ says there are more angels at our house now to protect us. It was fun having our priest and neighbor over. He has the exact floor plan of our house so we were comparing all of the fun things that can be done. They moved in around the same time we did in September. We had a fabulous Thanksgiving with the Kaza's as generous hosts. I don't have many pictures from that, but if you've seen the Suarez blog, you've gotten them. It was great spending time with cousins and Mario's parents and almost all of his siblings.
Cheers!
We also feel that Joey is at an absolutely adorable age (well, MJ is as well) but Joey is at the perfect age of obedience without much talking back, with all the curiosity of a toddler. MJ is just plain curious about everything, but has a much better understanding of rules and order. So we have been trying to take more pictures of them if possible.
For the most part, MJ and Joey stay in their own beds at night, but occasionally Joey will be in his crib or they will try to share a bed together. I got some night shots of this, but then tried with a flash and they didn't wake up. I guess they are pretty good friends. (You can see part of the wall where we painted the boys room... I really should do a before and after picture).
MJ still loves all tools. He also likes spending time outside even when it is cold. I'm not exactly sure what he is doing, but I've caught him simply staring at the tools, carefully arranging them, and pretending to use them. Joey joins him outside for a little while but then decides it's too cold.
MJ had an extra special fun day when Mario let him pretend to use the real tools. He was happy for hours!
With the beginning of Advent, we've started to find some of our Christmas decorations. The boys really love this snow globe of the Nativity.
Cheers!
We also feel that Joey is at an absolutely adorable age (well, MJ is as well) but Joey is at the perfect age of obedience without much talking back, with all the curiosity of a toddler. MJ is just plain curious about everything, but has a much better understanding of rules and order. So we have been trying to take more pictures of them if possible.
For the most part, MJ and Joey stay in their own beds at night, but occasionally Joey will be in his crib or they will try to share a bed together. I got some night shots of this, but then tried with a flash and they didn't wake up. I guess they are pretty good friends. (You can see part of the wall where we painted the boys room... I really should do a before and after picture).
MJ still loves all tools. He also likes spending time outside even when it is cold. I'm not exactly sure what he is doing, but I've caught him simply staring at the tools, carefully arranging them, and pretending to use them. Joey joins him outside for a little while but then decides it's too cold.
MJ had an extra special fun day when Mario let him pretend to use the real tools. He was happy for hours!
With the beginning of Advent, we've started to find some of our Christmas decorations. The boys really love this snow globe of the Nativity.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
belly, but for how much longer?
I thought I should probably take a belly shot as I haven't done that much with this baby. I have been 37 weeks as of Monday and had my appointment today. I am 3cm dilated, 70% effaced, and the baby is at 0 station. Any baby preditions for date of arrival, weight, length? Let's hope they were right about a girl b/c we have no baby boy names lined up. I have more "clues" to help guess the date of arrival, but we'll have to discuss that over email as Mario doesn't like sharing some stuff on blogs.
I realize that many women can walk around this ready to go for several weeks. With Joey, I hadn't felt really active contractions that kept going, so we decided to have my water broken. When I checked into the hospital I was 6cm and 80% effaced. I usually have quick labors, but I think I could also say that I have technically LONG labors. It depends on when you start the clock for labor... 1 cm, 2 cm? cx where you cannot breath? I guess for me the early stuff goes mostly unnoticed. Anyway, this girl will arrive when she is ready. And the braxton hicks I have been feeling have been a nice wake up call that she actually could arrive soon. So at least now our bags our mostly packed, she has clean clothes, and a clean car seat. We even have her special blanket picked out. It has been Joey approved.
I realize that many women can walk around this ready to go for several weeks. With Joey, I hadn't felt really active contractions that kept going, so we decided to have my water broken. When I checked into the hospital I was 6cm and 80% effaced. I usually have quick labors, but I think I could also say that I have technically LONG labors. It depends on when you start the clock for labor... 1 cm, 2 cm? cx where you cannot breath? I guess for me the early stuff goes mostly unnoticed. Anyway, this girl will arrive when she is ready. And the braxton hicks I have been feeling have been a nice wake up call that she actually could arrive soon. So at least now our bags our mostly packed, she has clean clothes, and a clean car seat. We even have her special blanket picked out. It has been Joey approved.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Furry Friends
The Kazas aren't the only ones with woodland creatures in their home. Ours happen to be squirrels living in our attic. We know where they are getting in (at least the obvious whole) so are prepared to seal that up. But first we have to remove the little furry things. It seems the $35 trap works and the boys enjoy checking out the squirrel. We have a few videos of Joey talking to the squirrel too. This was the first one we caught, and Mario relocated him last night. Today we caught squirrel #2 and I've just returned from a LONG drive to make sure that he won't come back. Hopefully we only had 2 and can patch the whole this weekend. Tabitha and Babu, if you find any more of God's outdoor creatures in your home, you are welcome to borrow our trap.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Blue or Brown
Wow, I am having trouble making even the smallest decisions here. We are attempting to get our kitchen put back together after the new paint job, and these window treatments are hard for me.
Our color pallette in the kitchen is not ideal, but we seem to have the green from the counters, the brown from the floors and the cabinets, white trim, and then our light table (which we don't really love but just happen to have). Some might even add the silver from the stainless steel and fixtures/knobs. We're thinking of either going navy for the other color for the other color or a chocolate brown.
Navy:
seems to highlight the blue walls more
pros - the table will sort of work still; we have blue dishes/accent stuff already
cons - will the room be too blue?
Brown:
seems to leave the green counters as the dominant "color" of the room
pros - a more subtle look, i get to buy new pic frames and a new clock
cons - I don't think the light table works; so we'd likely spray paint it (it was a $150 IKEA table and as temporary of a purchase as it was, it's lasted 7 years and we don't mind if we get rid of it eventually).
I know it's hard to tell from these pictures, do you have any oppinions?
Our color pallette in the kitchen is not ideal, but we seem to have the green from the counters, the brown from the floors and the cabinets, white trim, and then our light table (which we don't really love but just happen to have). Some might even add the silver from the stainless steel and fixtures/knobs. We're thinking of either going navy for the other color for the other color or a chocolate brown.
Navy:
seems to highlight the blue walls more
pros - the table will sort of work still; we have blue dishes/accent stuff already
cons - will the room be too blue?
Brown:
seems to leave the green counters as the dominant "color" of the room
pros - a more subtle look, i get to buy new pic frames and a new clock
cons - I don't think the light table works; so we'd likely spray paint it (it was a $150 IKEA table and as temporary of a purchase as it was, it's lasted 7 years and we don't mind if we get rid of it eventually).
I know it's hard to tell from these pictures, do you have any oppinions?
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Weird doors are gone!
I need to get some after pictures of the office; though it's not all-together yet because we've already begun removing the weird doors in the boys room. An annoying sheet-rock issue which needs multiple layers of spackle has set us back a little. But it will get done. In the meantime, the boys room in slight disorder; but they are surviving.
Have you ever seen anything so odd? Those doors go to one of the 3 bedrooms upstairs... why?
Mario thought it was weird that I was taking so many pictures of this project.
Just before I took this one he said, "We are so getting a nail gun"
MJ has been working on building a fence out of the railing that used to be behind the doors.
Good thing we have a pretty tall ladder.
Our family is doing pretty well. I'm realizing that this baby may be arriving soon as I will be 37 weeks on Monday. I was just about 40 weeks with both MJ and Joey, so I think I still have more time, still, spending a bit of time nesting for her is probably a good idea.
Joey is talking more, and he has a very adorable voice. I'm a bit sad that "Mommy" sounds more like "Bobby", especially since not only does he point out trucks, but he can even give them different appropriate names such as dump truck, backhoe, bulldozer. I think his most favorite thing to point out in the car is McDonald's. It was hard to tell what was getting him so excited at first, but after passing our 5th McD's and here him squeal with excitement, I put 2 and 2 together. I didn't think we went there that often, but my guess is he remembers the yummy chocolate shakes that our family will occasionally share. He still loves cars and does most things holding on to one or two. He's great at playing with and entertaining MJ. It's really fun watching him run over to MJ and tackle him or give him a big hug, just because he feels like it.
MJ seems to be growing so quickly. It's fun to see how his mind words, but also a little challenging as he really tries to negotiate using some pretty intelligent logic. He LOVES Mario's leafblower and will talk about how he should be able to use it, or pretend use it. On particularly bad days, I've had to make a rule that MJ is not allowed to even mention daddy's leaf blower or he will have a consequence (after dozens of attempts to have me get it for him). Thankfully, his intellectual skills understood how serious I was so that he wouldn't talk about the leaf blower all day. Now, he wakes up in the morning but subtly asks if he can talk about the leaf blower. He really enjoys all of daddy's tools and will sit and read the Ryobi manuals. He calls them his magazines and really loves them.
He is also a pretty good engineer. I think he and Patrick would get along well with their building skills. I was particularly proud of this work machine he created on his own. It's been a couple of weeks since the guys came to remove our trees with their mulcher and dump truck, but MJ made one on his own. It even comes apart just like the mulcher/dump truck they had.
I wish I had a better angle of the truck they used.
Have you ever seen anything so odd? Those doors go to one of the 3 bedrooms upstairs... why?
Mario thought it was weird that I was taking so many pictures of this project.
Just before I took this one he said, "We are so getting a nail gun"
MJ has been working on building a fence out of the railing that used to be behind the doors.
Good thing we have a pretty tall ladder.
Our family is doing pretty well. I'm realizing that this baby may be arriving soon as I will be 37 weeks on Monday. I was just about 40 weeks with both MJ and Joey, so I think I still have more time, still, spending a bit of time nesting for her is probably a good idea.
Joey is talking more, and he has a very adorable voice. I'm a bit sad that "Mommy" sounds more like "Bobby", especially since not only does he point out trucks, but he can even give them different appropriate names such as dump truck, backhoe, bulldozer. I think his most favorite thing to point out in the car is McDonald's. It was hard to tell what was getting him so excited at first, but after passing our 5th McD's and here him squeal with excitement, I put 2 and 2 together. I didn't think we went there that often, but my guess is he remembers the yummy chocolate shakes that our family will occasionally share. He still loves cars and does most things holding on to one or two. He's great at playing with and entertaining MJ. It's really fun watching him run over to MJ and tackle him or give him a big hug, just because he feels like it.
MJ seems to be growing so quickly. It's fun to see how his mind words, but also a little challenging as he really tries to negotiate using some pretty intelligent logic. He LOVES Mario's leafblower and will talk about how he should be able to use it, or pretend use it. On particularly bad days, I've had to make a rule that MJ is not allowed to even mention daddy's leaf blower or he will have a consequence (after dozens of attempts to have me get it for him). Thankfully, his intellectual skills understood how serious I was so that he wouldn't talk about the leaf blower all day. Now, he wakes up in the morning but subtly asks if he can talk about the leaf blower. He really enjoys all of daddy's tools and will sit and read the Ryobi manuals. He calls them his magazines and really loves them.
He is also a pretty good engineer. I think he and Patrick would get along well with their building skills. I was particularly proud of this work machine he created on his own. It's been a couple of weeks since the guys came to remove our trees with their mulcher and dump truck, but MJ made one on his own. It even comes apart just like the mulcher/dump truck they had.
I wish I had a better angle of the truck they used.
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